Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1984 - (page 198)

BimboBob said:
Nothing niche about it.

It's a good, if a little melancholy, album and Nobody's Diary was on my "let's knock these 10 down to 4" list.

I remember driving my Dad's brand new MG Maestro to a pub on a Saturday lunchtime so he could "have a few good drinks." In those days I could also "have a few good drinks" and we proceeded to get quite drunk. The car, being only a month old, was never going to be left in the pub carpark so my Mum was sent for, along with my Brother, to collect us and it. With Dad safely in Mum's awful Metro we turned the music up, You And Me Both on cassette which my Brother brought with him, and took the long route back home. Dad was passed out on the sofa when we got back, full album listened to. He got rid of it a short while later and bought a Saab 99 Turbo.
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The characterful Saab 99 definitely an upgrade on a Maestro, though I seem to remember from someone I knew who had one - the later Maestro's got an upgraded engine option that the rest of it couldn't handle and they became an entertainingly 'interesting' drive.
 
threespires said:
The characterful Saab 99 definitely an upgrade on a Maestro, though I seem to remember from someone I knew who had one - the later Maestro's got an upgraded engine option that the rest of it couldn't handle and they became an entertainingly interesting' drive.
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The rest of it couldn't handle the first MG version let alone the upgrade and then the turbo. Horrible build quality. The voice synthesiser was funny as fuck. Low Fuel, Low Fuel!
 
@threespires - thanks for the playlist update.

Far be it from me to make the playlist longer but that chopped-up version of "I Want A New Drug" needs to be replaced by the full version from the Sports album.

Incidentally, Huey Lewis & The News was my first ever gig 39 years ago today.
 
Jazzman said:
1983 was the year where I encountered the so called Neoprog Rock. Specifically Marillion released their debut Album Script for a Jester's Tear. This group and in particular lead singer Fish became very, very important to me. I still know many of their lyrics by heart. I know they released an EP in 1982, but I only found out about them in 83. Late as usual. Let me nominate the title song

Script for a Jester's Tear - Marillion
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That album it seems is an example of the power of osmosis. I've never owned it, but every second kid on my hall of residence floor did (mostly on engineering courses I seem to remember!) as I was just updating the playlist I've just proven to myself that over 40 years later I can sing every line of Forgotten Sons !
 
BimboBob said:
The rest of it couldn't handle the first MG version let alone the upgrade and then the turbo. Horrible build quality. The voice synthesiser was funny as fuck. Low Fuel, Low Fuel!
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Weren't there tales of people going into ditches and whilst the fire brigade were cutting them out there'd be an unfortunate message repeating from the voice synthesiser?
 
threespires said:
That album it seems is an example of the power of osmosis. I've never owned it, but every second kid on my hall of residence floor did (mostly on engineering courses I seem to remember!) as I was just updating the playlist I've just proven to myself that over 40 years later I can sing every line of Forgotten Sons !
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Ha, I am an engineer.
 
threespires said:
First pass couldn't find it, will have another look.

While we're at it....

@homerdog I can't find the Donnie Iris track on UK spotify

@stonerblue are you ok with me swapping Blue Monday to the original 12" mix - this is a history thread after all :-)
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That version of Blue Monday is the original mix, it was just on a later singles album. As long as you don't put on the abortion that is the '88 version with it's added nonsense.
 
BimboBob said:
I'm sure one of the voices was "brakes failing" but that might be a myth.
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Don't know, but the brakes were bad enough that it needed it.

I think the story goes that the poundshop star trek dashboard and the voice synth were really really late additions because the marketing department told Michal Edwards we won't be able to sell something this shit unless you give us some sparkly toys to big it up with. So the tech was massively undercooked at the point it went on sale and just made things worse.
 
stonerblue said:
Oh come on spires, no way would I post a bobbins version and I'm disappointed you think I did..
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If I'd have thought for a second about the poster I would have realised. For some reason I just equated Singles with the buggering about with the songs like on Substance, and assumed it wouldn't be the original. Grovelling apologies!
 
threespires said:
Getting a brew, then will update - 5 mins :-)
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Well, I'll thank you from my end as by the time I got on the road today, it was updated to the point of my wife asking me what we were listening to... and then after I explained it all and asked her to guess the year, and she was only off by one - to the future.

I will say the first 10 from Sadds was a welcome familiarity to us both, each knowing all the songs, while not yet knowing each other at that time.

Marillion got a comment, and not to the positive, so I'll catch that one fully for later. We got to the end, and of course there was no way I was putting Floyd's DSOTM on, so back it was to 1982 and BimboBob's first 10. That too got some comments "I don't ever think I've heard of this 'B-Movie' before?", and given her background, that too took me a bit by surprise. After looking through the popular songs on the charts from both years, she then claimed that 1983 was the year the UK artists took over the US charts on song selections after scanning what was in 1982. It was hard to argue after a long discussion.

Also after the Fixx played (she knew who nominated that given our recent concert), she started to look up other UK bands who were bigger in the US, and of course AFOfS came up, and I nodded along having deja vu on this thread recently here. Then she looks up US bands that made it in the UK but never made it big in the US and mentions (and knew a bit) about Sparks, and then I said "I'm really having some deja vu now" given she's single handedly relived most of my recent discoveries here with her searches, but it wasn't the same as hearing them here first and having some context rather than just saying "who????".

Do I have a point in all of this? Not really, but it was a fun day of visiting Ben & Jerry's, Alchemist Brewery, Stowe, and Waterbury, VT. Not a bad day to spend a Friday and if I had an extra track to mention from 1983, it would be "Memories Fade" from Tears For Fears as I hope the ones from today do not anytime soon. This is my top one from that album, already mentioned here.
 
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Arriving at 90125
Following the departure of Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, the rest of the band hired The Buggles and released the fresh sounding “Drama” album.
Despite its success, many Yes fans felt that line up would be short lived. And so it came to pass.
Steve Howe subsequently co- formed Asia and Yes were de facto debunked.
The Rhythm section of White and Squire joined forces with none other Jimmy Page to form XYZ. Robert Plant was rumoured to be joining too however the project was to fade away.
Eventually,Squire and White teamed up with Trevor Rabin and ex-keyboard player Tony Kaye to form “Cinema” however once Anderson reappeared the name was only going one way.
90125 was a radical change in sound. Yes were dragged and kicked into the 1980’s with a new cohort of fans induced by the unlikely hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart”.
For this long time fan I found the music too sterile and clinical. I very rarely listen to it and worse was to come with the follow up @Big Generator.
 
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